Saturday, December 15, 2012

Pinterest Fail: The Truth about Sharpie Mugs (UPDATED with some Sass)

UPDATE: To everyone trying to offer up tips using different types of materials: the point of this post was to debunk the fact that all the pins on pintereset said that you could do this with REGULAR PLAIN ORDINARY SHARPIES. That's the whole appeal of the project for people; that the supplies are things everyone has on hand. We set out to do this project in the first place because of how inexpensive it was. All the stuff you guys are suggesting costs more and would only be cost effective if you were planning on making a ton of them to sell. We were just trying to let people know that this isn't something that is durable as per the instructions and materials. Yes, parts of the sharpie did stay on, but really how long would that last if most of it came off after one wash. The simple fact of the matter is that the project is inherently flawed right from the beginning because the mugs have already been glazed. Sharpie ink is just not gonna penetrate the glaze no matter how long you bake it or how hard we wish on shooting stars. Sure it might endure a few washes, but in the long run it will come off. So we were just trying to stop people from wasting time making beautiful decorations just for it to come off in a month. Anyways, if you are really serious about decorating your own mugs then definitely check out some of the suggestions in the comments.

We're finally back after our month long hiatus! We've missed blogging and are finally getting back into the swing of things!

We're going to kick things off by sharing a pinterest fail with you guys. We decided to hop on the bandwagon and give the famous Sharpie mugs a go because we thought they'd make excellent gifts. We were definitely skeptical going in because we knew the project was too easy to be true! But we went against our better judgment and each spent time decorating a lovely mug.

Long story short, when we washed our mugs a lot of the ink came off. So we went on a quest to figure out if we had done something wrong. After our extensive research we've determined that this method of decorating mugs will never ever work. These mugs already have a glazed finish on them, which means that plain old sharpie ink will never stick on to them. So no matter how long you bake them, the ink will never penetrate the glaze.

If you are really set on decorating your own mugs, we suggest looking into ceramic paints and pens. The pens are a bit pricey so you should only get them if you're really serious about this project.

Now time to share the pics!

Ai's mug was so cute! We were definitely super sad about the outcome!

A whole section of text wiped off and the rest of it faded and smudged.

The cat held up pretty well but probably would've been gone after a couple of washes.

My mug before the wash.

The mug after a gentle hand wash!

That's all for this week folks! We hope this helps you all to avoid wasting time and money on this project! We have a bunch of amazing Christmas crafts with you in the coming weeks! Happy crafting and happy holidays! ♥

10 comments:

I did a sharpie mug as well. I used black and red ink. After one moderate-scrub hand wash, the black stayed but the red rubbed off easily. I have not washed it again since. I baked mine in a toaster oven for 30 minutes at approx 325-350F (whatever the default temperature setting is).

I just finished a round of sharpie mugs, and they turned out perfectly! I even hand washed them with a scrubby to test them. Using a cheap mug (apparently the glaze is thinner and easier to penetrate,) I made sure that the mugs were completely clean and dry, did two coats of the sharpie and let that dry completely. I put them in a cool oven and set the oven to 425. As soon as the 30 minute times was finished, I turned the oven off and let the mugs cool in there. They turned out very nicely!

To everyone trying to offer up tips using different types of materials: the point of this post was to debunk the fact that all the pins on pintereset said that you could do this with REGULAR PLAIN ORDINARY SHARPIES. That's the whole appeal of the project for people; that the supplies are things everyone has on hand. We were just trying to let people know that this isn't something that is durable. Yes, parts of the sharpie did stay on, but really how long would that last if most of it came off after one wash. The simple fact of the matter is that that project is inherently flawed right from the beginning because the mugs have already been glazed. Sharpie ink is just not gonna penetrate the glaze no matter how long you bake it or how hard we wish on shooting stars. Sure it might endure a few washes, but in the long run it will come off. Anyways, if people are really serious about decorating their own mugs then definitely check out some of the suggestions in the comments.